Flashback: Cool Twisty Puzzles

I’m talkin’ bout the Rubik’s Cube, the Missing Link, the Pyraminx, the Whip-It & a rack of others.

I was sitting here and had a quick reflection on all the good games and puzzles that I used to play with as a kid. This was primarily between the 2nd and 6th grades. I was a master at all of those things. Did that make me a brainiac or some kind of nerd? I dunno. I wasn’t exactly a scholar when it came to grade. However, I had the patience back then to sit down and figure games out. I had fun doing them and laughing at my friends who could never seem to solve them. Honestly, I don’t even remember how I acquired half of the ones I did. I think maybe my step dad bought some of them for me back then. Regardless, they were some of the joys I had in my younger days. I mean, aside from playing paper football and Atari all the time, I did challenging twisty puzzles like these. One of the real cool ones was the Rubik’s Snake. You could lock in into a ball or make cool shapes from it. A lot of folks couldn’t figure out how to do those either. I always had that thing with me.

I would keep them in my bookbag until recess most of the time and when I had the first opportunity, I’d break them out and challenge my buddies. I remember seeing a few of them trying to take the stickers off the Rubik’s Cube and front like they really solved it. In some cases they’d crack the tiles off and switch them to sides with the matching color. You know I’d call them on it too. I got joy from the frustrations of others. I mean, if you know you can do something and someone else can’t, isn’t it more fun? Hell, the guys who dunked basketballs never felt sorry for me at 5’9″ when I jumped and grabbed the rim but couldn’t slam the ball.

I was good at a lot of things during those days. When we played football, I was always the safety and I had more interceptions returned for TD’s than anybody. At the WR position I was the shortest, but the fastest. Give me a Go Route and the TD was in the bank. That’s how I got the nickname Eggum Power… LOL. When playing dodgeball, I was always one of the last kids standing at the end. I was elusive and quick. I was the king. When playing Capture the Flag, I was smooth with stealing the opponents flag and getting across the center line. I was good in basketball, alright in softball and kickball and sucked at volleyball.